


lucky i'm in love with my best friend

by parkers



Series: underappreciated ship hell [2]
Category: Free!
Genre: Alternate Universe - Childhood Friends, M/M, churned out while i was half asleep, not the best bUT IT'S SOMETHING!!, the childhood friends au
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-11-04
Updated: 2014-11-04
Packaged: 2018-02-24 03:52:53
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,788
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2567237
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/parkers/pseuds/parkers
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>haruka and kisumi have known each other for years, but haruka still finds him surprising.</p>
            </blockquote>





	lucky i'm in love with my best friend

Haruka wakes up blearily to the sound of something being thrown at his window. Not again.

“Pst, Haru,” he hears faintly. For a moment, he’s tempted to roll over and ignore his self-proclaimed “best friend,” but then he thinks better of it.

Stumbling out of bed, he walks to the window irritatedly and sees the pink-haired boy he expected to see leaning eagerly out of the window. “What is it, Kisumi?”

“Hey!” Kisumi is full of energy as always. “Wanna go watch the sunrise?”

“That’s dangerous,” Haruka points out sleepily. Kisumi could accidentally slip and fall out of his second-story window. “What time is it?”

“Around four-thirty!” Kisumi’s eyes shine, and Haruka regrets agreeing even before he knows he will.

 

“Why am I here,” Haruka says in a flat tone, more a statement than a question. The cold night air combined with his thin clothing (a t-shirt and shorts wasn’t the best choice to wear, now that he thinks about it) nearly makes him shiver, but he resists the chill and stares apathetically at his (self-proclaimed) “best friend.”  

“Sunrises!” Kisumi exclaims, as if it explains everything. He yanks Haruka through the door and closes it with an excited look. Then, he bolts up the stairs without words. Haruka sighs and follows him as quietly as he can to the second floor. It’s a mystery how Kisumi’s parents and baby brother haven’t woken up yet. Kisumi claims he’s quiet, but his footsteps say otherwise.

He finds Kisumi halfway up the ladder that leads to the roof, with a bag of popcorn in one hand and a camera hanging loosely off his shoulder.

“Don’t drop anything,” Haruka warns. “It’ll make a mess, and I don’t want to clean after you.”

“Of course not, Haru!” The darkness hides Kisumi’s face, but Haruka knows that he’s grinning.

 

When Haruka pokes his head into the cold outside air, he looks around to see Kisumi sprawled out on the hard surface, the camera on his belly and the popcorn on his left. When Kisumi spots Haruka, he pats the spot next to him. Haruka sighs once again, sitting besides the pink-haired boy. He hugged his legs to his chest, trying not to sneeze.

The sky is still dark. Haruka stares at the small pinpoints of light. Stars. Even though he can see them, they still seem to fade out of his sight. He can’t keep track of which one is which, nor trace out the constellations that he commonly sees in books.

“It’s soon, promise!” Kisumi says, his words muffled by the popcorn in his mouth. He holds one kernel in his hand. Haruka opens his mouth expectantly and is rewarded with the taste of butter melting on the poofy popcorn.

“Why today?” he asks, his voice sounding loud in the silence. Apart from the piecemeal beep of a car or chirping of a bird, the sleeping town is silent. “You never said anything about this before today morning.”

“I just felt like it! Couldn’t sleep!” Kisumi bites down on a kernel, the crunch loud enough for Haruka to hear. “Of course, I wouldn’t do this without you!”

Haruka shakes his head, but he can’t find disapproval inside of him.

Minutes pass. Haruka finds himself dozing off, but shakes himself awake. If he falls asleep now, he’ll just feel more exhausted when he wakes up for the second time. However, he looks over to Kisumi, who looks like he’s already half-asleep.

Then, Kisumi jumps to his feet, pointing at the horizon. Haruka follows his finger to see the source of all of the excitement. The first patch of yellow pokes out, instantly making the sky seem much lighter. Orange and gold fill the sky as the sun continues to slowly creep up the sky. Kisumi yells something and takes a billion pictures, but Haruka is transfixed by the sight of the sunrise. It’s slow and gradual, but beautiful and quiet and warm.

“We should do this again,” he says, and Kisumi turns to look at him with a wide-eyed look of surprise.

“Yeah, if you want to!”

“Sure. When?”

“This is something special,” Kisumi says, looking thoughtfully at the sky. “We should do it after we complete a goal that was HUGE, you get me?” Haruka opens his mouth, but Kisumi immediately interrupts him. “I know, you’re probably going to mention swimming, right?” He gives Haruka a knowing look before he continues. “I guess I’ll go with that. Let’s see...”

“You’re into basketball, right?” Haruka suggests hesitantly. “You could play your way to nationals, or I’ll swim my way there. Whoever does it first ‘wins,’ I guess. Either way, we do this again.”

“That’s good, Haru!” Kisumi laughs, a pretty laugh befitting his looks, and, to Haruka, it sounds like the color of the sky.

 

“Good game!” Kisumi cheers as they walk home from school. “That was tiring!”

“Good job,” Haruka says quietly, although not insincerely. He gives Kisumi what the latter calls a fond look (although Haruka says otherwise) and returns his gaze to the path in front of him.

November 2 happens to be a peaceful spring afternoon that’s rather light. Cherry blossoms have begun to flower near the park where they live and in the front of their high school, pale pink popping out everywhere. The sky is a pale blue, and the colors around Haruka are all pastel -- it makes him want to fall asleep.

“Just one more, and we’ll be doing the sunrise again!” Kisumi stretches, then drapes his arm over Haruka’s shoulder. Haruka gave up trying to brush him off ever since middle school.

“I might win before you,” Haruka protests. “I have only one more match too.” Although the idea makes him a little nervous, there’s no reason for him to show Kisumi, although he suspects that his friend already knows.

“Of course! But that doesn’t stop me from looking forwards to my last game before nationals!” Kisumi sounds confident, but he does have reason to. The Iwatobi Basketball Team is acknowledged to be one of the best in their regions. Kisumi’s been praised for his speed and passes that always get to his teammates more times than Haruka wanted to hear.

When they reach the block in front of both of their houses, Kisumi pats Haruka’s shoulder before separating from him. “See you later then! You can always call me over.”

“I know,” Haruka replies, turning around to leave.

“Okay! Lo-- Have a great day, Haru!” Kisumi seems almost flustered on the last part, but Haruka puts his concern aside.

“You too,” he replies before shutting the door.

 

_Sent at 5:00pm, 11/14/14: sorry i couldn’t wait for you after school today. how’d it go?_

 

When the phone begins to vibrate for more than two seconds, flashing Kisumi’s name, Haruka stares at it with surprise. Kisumi could just text him -- he thought he’d just get another “i won obv!!!” and a ton of pleased emojis. But if he’s calling -- then something’s not right.

He picks up.

“Kisumi?”

“Haru,” the voice on the other end replies. It sounds nothing like the bright bubbly Kisumi he knows. It’s dull, broken, shattered.

“Kisumi,” he repeats, unsure of what to say or do. “Kisumi, I’m coming over.”

“Yeah,” the voice -- not Kisumi, can’t be Kisumi -- responds. The call ends. Haruka stops whatever he was doing and hurries down the stairs. After muttering a quick few words to his confused parents, he dashes out the door. The door to Kisumi’s house is unlocked, but he doesn’t have time to think about how careless that is. Instead, he runs in.

“Kisumi?” he calls, and the sound of his voice grows louder in the silence.

“In my room,” he hears faintly from upstairs. Following the voice, he sees Kisumi’s door -- pale pink and old and closed to him.

He opens it and is not prepared for the sight that greets him, despite all the warning signs.

“I was useless,” Kisumi says. He’s laying on his bed, one arm covering his eyes. Besides him lays a discarded basketball jersey. “I failed, my team lost, it was me.”

Before Haruka can say anything, Kisumi continues.

“I tried a pass at the end of the game, the other team smacked it away so easily. We lost, we lost, it was me.” Kisumi’s voice is almost reaching hysterical levels. “I can’t believe it, what a failure I am. Nationals was one game away. One game.”

A thousand useless excuses fill Haruka’s mind. _You have next year. It isn’t that bad. Try harder next time._ But nothing comes to his mouth. Instead, he walks closer and sits beside Kisumi on the bed, which creaks a little when his body touches it.

“Sorry,” he says, because that’s the only thing that comes to mind that seems to work.

“Not your fault,” Kisumi says, and he sounds so tired. “Haru.” He shifts his arms so that his sad eyes can see Haruka.

“Kisumi.” Haruka reaches out tentatively, setting on hand on Kisumi’s shoulder. He’s not sure exactly how to act, seeing as his communication skills aren’t the best, but Kisumi lets him. “I-I’ll be here, you know. If you need anything.”

“I know.” The bed loudly protests as Kisumi slowly sits up. Tear-stained purple eyes look into startled blue ones. Even after years of being close friends, Haruka can’t figure out how to help Kisumi, nor how his friend will act in times like now.

He’s even more surprised when Kisumi’s mouth finds its way to his.

It’s not unpleasant. In fact, if his brain weren’t short-circuiting, he’d be pleasantly surprised.

“Sorry,” Kisumi mumbles when he pulls away. “I wasn’t thinking, I was upset, I’m so sorry--” His hands make vague gestures as his voice rises. He’s still teary-eyed, but now pink is staining his cheeks. He really is quite a sight, Haruka thinks.

He stops when Haruka leans in again.

“It’s alright.”

 

“I’m going to win next year,” Kisumi declares loudly to the rising sun. “I’ll win my way through, and you can stop me.”

“I’m on your side,” Haruka says, half-teasing. He smiles, and Kisumi grins at him, as eager and excited as he was when he was just a kid. They’re children once again for a moment -- the same children who sat on the rooftop years ago and made a promise together.

Kisumi holds up a kernel of popcorn, and Haruka opens his mouth like always, taking it obediently. He leans over, resting his head on Kisumi’s shoulder. The latter hums contentedly and slips an arm around his shoulder.

The two continue to watch the golds and the reds (and even some pinks) fill the sky, glad to be together and glad to be alive.

**Author's Note:**

> I TRIED


End file.
